


the rays of your love

by blommowitch



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 03:09:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17758640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blommowitch/pseuds/blommowitch
Summary: He waved to Sora, who began climbing towards him as quietly as possible - or, as quietly as was possible when someone burst into the room one second before the lecture was about to begin and had to ask everyone in the row to get up in order to take their seat at the far end of the hall.“I know, I know, but I’m here! And happy birthday!” Sora said as he sat down in the chair next to Riku’s, his brown skin shining with sweat. If Riku had been sweaty just from sitting in the lecture hall, Sora must be drenched from running across campus. Riku smiled.





	the rays of your love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chikaikeeper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chikaikeeper/gifts).



Riku’s watch ticked as the seconds slowly drained away. It felt like a vise was squeezing around his chest, getting tighter for every second that passed. _Almost time._ His watch seemed to move in slow motion as the hands moved towards the number 12-

and Riku’s contemplations were brought to a sharp halt by the unmistakable sound of a door slamming open, and someone gasping: “Sorry! Sorry!” Riku breathed out and the tension in his chest released. He had almost started to sweat, worrying that Sora might actually miss the lecture - though the sweat might have been due to the crowded and humid lecture hall. He waved to Sora, who began climbing towards him as quietly as possible - or, as quietly as was possible when someone burst into the room one second before the lecture was about to begin and had to ask everyone in the row to get up in order to take their seat at the far end of the hall.

“I know, I know, but I’m here! And happy birthday!” Sora said as he sat down in the chair next to Riku’s, his brown skin shining with sweat. If Riku had been sweaty just from sitting in the lecture hall, Sora must be drenched from running across campus. Riku smiled.

“Thanks, Sora. And have you ever considered getting up ten minutes earlier in order to _not_ slam the door open at the last minute?” he asked in a low voice, trying not to draw attention to them. Sure, the lecture was crowded with students so they might not be noticed, but it was still polite to keep quiet as the teacher was talking. Sora, clearly having no such qualms, gasped dramatically.

“You would deny me sleep? When you know that an aspiring marine biologist such as myself needs all the rest he can get? Besides, I was preparing your birthday present.” Sora’s smile was luminous, and his eyes shone with excitement. He seemed prepared to tell Riku more about this, at great length, when he was interrupted by the lecturer clearing her throat meaningfully. Sora smiled apologetically at her, then turned his head towards Riku and rolled his eyes, but still pulled up his notes from his bags and put them on the small table in front of him. Riku remembered that he had other things to do in life than stare at Sora, and focused his attention on the lecturer and his own notes. He was about to note down what the lecturer was saying about rising acidity affecting coral reefs when he felt a note subtly being put under his right hand. Trying to look as if he was merely checking his notes, Riku read it.

_How has your day been so far, birthday boy? ;)_

Riku flushed and leaned back in his chair. Unfortunately this meant that the sunlight coming through the window on his left, previously blocked by Riku’s own head, now shone straight at Sora. His brown hair lit up and Sora closed his eyes to seemingly enjoy the sunlight. It had always amazed Riku how, despite the constant sunlight, Sora never seemed to tire of it (unlike Riku himself, whose paler skin turned pink before it turned light brown if he didn’t take care to drench himself in SPF). He leaned forward again and wrote a reply on the back of the note.

_Not bad, I guess. It’s not like much happens when you’re 22 anyway. I can already vote, drink and drive - what more do I need?_

He passed it back to Sora, who smiled and tore off a piece of paper from his notes, and was in the midst of writing a reply when the lecturer asked a question and the person two seats away from them answered. They both jumped slightly, aware of almost being in the lecturer’s spotlight, and Riku focused his attention back on the lecturer, as did Sora. Slowly the hour passed, and the class’ mood turned sour when they neared the end of the lecture - no one appreciated an hour of lectures of exactly how fast their island would sink into the ocean unless climate change was halted. But as soon as the lecture was over, Sora shoved his notes into his bag, jumped up from his seat and waited impatiently for Riku to do the same. The second Riku had carefully sorted his notes, Sora grabbed his hand.

“Come on, Riku!” he exclaimed as he ran down the stairs, Riku in tow. Riku threw apologetic smiles towards the other people in the lecture as Sora ran through the crowd of people trying to get out, hurled down the stairs, through the door and out on the campus grounds. He stopped as soon as they reached the grass and sat himself down on the ground in the shade under a tree, but didn’t let go of Riku’s hand. Another person might have read something into the hand-holding, but Riku didn’t. _Sora’s been holding my hand since we were five years old, obviously he wouldn’t think of it as anything other than friendly_ , he admonished himself.

 

“So,” he asked, slightly out of breath, “mind telling me why we ran as fast as we could through a crowd of disgruntled and depressed students?” Sora almost bounced up and down in his excitement as Riku crossed his legs and tried to find a comfortable position to sit in.

“Because I wanted to give you your birthday present!” he exclaimed happily, but then seemed to calm down slightly and let his hand slip out of Riku’s. Riku tried not to miss it. Sora wrung his hands in his lap, and Riku frowned - Sora was rarely like this, almost awkward and… _Is he nervous?_

“You know I’ll like whatever you give me, right?” Riku asked softly, peering into Sora’s face. Sora seemed to let go of some tension in his body and gave Riku a small smile.

“I know, but this birthday present is a little special,” he said. Suddenly he seemed almost stern, but with a glint in his eye that told Riku that he was up to something. “Now hold out your hands! And close your eyes!” he commanded.

“Yes, sir!” Riku shouted back, and Sora responded with slapping his arm playfully.

“Come on, just do it! For me?” Sora turned his big blue eyes on Riku, and he tried not to melt. He knew it was a hopeless cause - there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Sora, which Sora was aware of. He sighed dramatically.

“ _Fine._ ” He closed his eyes and held out his palms, but opened his eyes as he felt something cold and metal land in them. The necklace with the crown locket that he had given Sora for his tenth birthday lay in his palms, along with the key that unlocked it. Riku couldn’t help a wave of hurt rising in him.

“Are you… giving this back?” he demanded, unable to stop his voice wobbling slightly. Sora blanched at his words.

“No, no, not at all! Just… open the locket, okay?” Sora seemed more nervous now than before, and his chest looked oddly bare without the necklace. Riku sighed, relieved that at least it wasn’t that, and picked up the silver key. He fitted it into the keyhole at the bottom of the crown, and opened the locket. Inside was a small note.

“My birthday present is… paper?” he teased. Sora groaned in response.

“Come on Riku, just read the note!” Seeing the obvious agitation in Sora, Riku picked up the note and began to read.

 

_Happy birthday Riku!_

_I know that most people would probably find me annoying, or childish, and be exasperated with me. But no matter how impulsive or rash I’ve been, you’ve always been by my side, and we’ve always been together in everything. Well, not everything. Which is kind of the point of this note, because I want to change that. Riku, do you want to go on a date with me?_

 

Riku’s brain seemed to have frozen. The heat was still warm and humid, but Riku’s head was 10 degrees below Celsius. Sora looked at him anxiously as he raised his eyes from the note to look at Sora.

“Do you mean… like a date as friends?” he managed to get out. Suddenly, Sora began to shake. Riku shook himself out of his stupor and grabbed Sora.

“Sora! Sora, are you alright?” Sora looked up, and Riku saw that he was laughing - wheezing, in fact, tears running down his face as he tried and failed to regain his breath.

“Riku, you _absolute disaster!”_ Sora wheezed. The teenage version of Riku rose to the surface.

“And this is coming from the person who once set the oven on fire because you thought that you could bake a cake at 240 degrees?” he scoffed. This interaction seemed to melt Riku’s brain, and it caught up with his mouth as he remembered exactly what Sora had asked in the note. Sora slowly stopped laughing and moved closer and closer to Riku. The sun was peeking through the leaves and leaving dappled sunlight on Sora’s brown hair, making it shine.

“No, Riku, not a date as friends. A date as boyfriends.” And before Riku could process this turn of events, Sora had kissed him. His brain once again froze, but thankfully his body took over the proceedings and buried his hands in Sora’s hair as he deepened the kiss. After a minute, Sora broke away and took a deep breath. _I never noticed that he looks almost golden in the sun_ , Riku thought to himself. He lowered his hands to Sora’s cheeks, and said:

“I guess we could do that. It might not be the worst thing in the world,” he smirked. Sora blushed, and pummeled him to the ground.

“You jerk!” Sora laughed, his hands on Riku’s wrists and his knees on opposite sides of Riku’s waist.

 

 _This is how it’s always going to be_ , Riku thought. _The two of us, together._

And with that thought, he leaned up to capture Sora’s lips with his own. They had all the time in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> here is another soriku fic I wrote for maya. not sure if it's good, but you know what? it made me happy.  
> some small facts: the tropes here were "college au", "notes swapping" and "mutual pining". it takes place in Hawai'i, bc I can't imagine a modern AU soriku taking place anywhere else, but I tried to not go into details bc I was too tired to do a huge amount of research (but please tell me if I got anything wrong!). anyway. my point being: neither Sora nor Riku are white.  
> other stuff: Riku is studying to become a biology teacher, Sora is becoming a marine biologist. and YES, the key thing was cheesy. this is a very cheesy fic. deal with it.


End file.
